A Virtual Exit » Firefox Tweaks

Secure your PC with the NoScript Firefox Extension

Gili — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 11:11:47 +0000

I believe that most of us agree on the fact that Firefox is a faster and more secure browser than Internet Explorer.

Nevertheless, if you use Firefox, you should note the fact that running Javascripts and other executable content while surfing the web can jeopardize your PC security and potentially cause you data loss.

That’s exactly why i recommend you to install the NoScript Firefox extension. NoScript secures your browser by allowing Javascript and other executables to run only from domains you trust. You can configure your “white list” of trusted domain by doing the following:

After you download and install NoScript, restart Firefox.
Click Tools, then click Add-ons
Select NoScript and click the Options button
Configure the white list.

If while browsing, you are prompted to allow executable content to run, you can do it by left clicking the NoScript status bar icon (marked with a capital S).

NoScript is overall a great piece of software, but be aware of the fact that some web sites won’t be featuring their full functionality until you add them to your trusted sites list. This is especially relevant for Greasemonkey scripts, that will run only on trusted web sites.

[tags] Firefox, NoScript, Security, Secure your PC [/tags]

Curb your procrastination with the MeeTimer Firefox plugin

Gili — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 17:30:51 +0000

Are you familiar with such days in which you just seat in front of your PC, and end up doing nothing but spending your precious time at Facebook, chatting with your colleagues, or picking your new avatar for SecondLife.com ?

If while reading these lines you find yourself nodding and smiling unvoluntarily, then the MeeTimer Firefox plugin is what you have been looking for.

Meetimer helps you to proactively increase your productivity. And here’s how:

MeeTimer records where you spend your time online.It does it in a rather useful way, by allowing you to group websites into activities (e.g. Facebook = procrastination; Gmail = communication) so you can make sense of where your time is going. Finally, it accumulates time spent on a site over the course of a day, so when you think “just another 2 mins won’t hurt” you realise that actually, yes, it will

Installation is a breeze. Once you are done, you’ll notice a “T” icon on your status bar. If you want to add a web site to one of the groups, all you need to do is right click on the Meetimer icon and select add to group.

MeeTimer is a charityware that raises funds for financing various MercyCorps activities, so if you find the plugin useful, you are more than welcome to donate.

[tags] Firefox Plugin, MeeTimer [/tags]

How to backup your Firefox settings ?

Gili — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 21:11:31 +0000

In a previous installment of this blog I provided an easy-to-use how-to guide for performing a Firefox bookmarks backup. The challenge is however to be able to easily backup and restore not only the bookmarks, but the installed extensions, certificates, saved passwords etc’. This ability is essential in case we want to easily move our Mozilla Firefox settings between different computers or restore your data after a system crash.

MozBackup is a neat utility that not only backups and restores your Firefox data but also your Thunderbird settings. It provides you with an easy to use GUI that lets you configure your backup and restore settings. Backup is performed to a single file (with a *.pcv suffix, that can be open with WinZip).

Two caveats:

Not all Firefox extensions backup is supported.
As this is an independently developed utility, I would recommend you’ll test drive it before relying on it for your backups.

MozBackup can be downloaded here. An easy to follow user documentation can be found here.

[tags] Mozilla backup, Firefox backup, Thunderbird backup, Thunderbird, Firefox [/tags]

Some cool Firefox keyboard shortcuts

Gili — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 08:10:13 +0000

If you guys like using keyboard shortcuts while surfing the web with your Firefox browser, this one might be extra useful.

Here are some useful shortcuts that apply ONLY to Mozilla Firefox:

Ctrl + T:Open new tab
Ctr +Tab, Ctrl+Page Down: Move to the next tab
Ctrl+ Page Up: Move to the previous tab
Ctr + -: Decrease text size
Ctrl + +: Increase text size
Ctrl + 0: Restore text back to normal size
Ctrl + Down Arrow: Select next search engine in location bar
Ctrl+ J: Open download manager window
Ctrl + K:Search the Web using the current search engine and keyword
Ctrl + n (where n is a number):Go to the nth open tab
Ctrl + S: Save current page as file
Ctrl + U: View page source

The full Firefox keyboard shortcut list can be found at Mozilla.org

Enjoy!

How to backup your Firefox bookmarks ?

Gili — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 09:08:54 +0000

Our Firefox browser bookmarks folder contains invaluable information we better periodically backup.
Here are two easy ways that will help you to keep your Mozilla Firefox bookmarks safe:

Export the Firefox bookmarks from the Bookmarks Manager

1. In Firefox, click on Bookmarks>>Organize Bookmarks.

2. The “Bookmarks Manager” will open up.

3. Click on File>> Export, provide a meaningful name and save the file.

Export the Firefox bookmarks from the File System

1. The Firefox bookmarks location is : C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\PROFILENAME\bookmarks.html

2. Copy the bookmarks file.

3. Paste that file to your backup directory of choice

How to restore your bookmarks?

1. In Firefox, click on Bookmarks>>Organize Bookmarks.

2. The “Bookmarks Manager” will open up.

3. Click on File >> Import, and select your bookmark export file.

[tags] Firefox bookmarks [/tags]